Calling All Grandmas!

Okay, so I have an idea. I was having a discussion this morning with someone who said what to me is the absolute backwards of how I imagine reality... that if you needed a simple computer for your grandma that Linux is the last thing that you would use. This blows my mind, because to me this is the ultimate use case for Linux. It's simple, takes care of itself, auto-updates, doesn't have licensing complexities, etc.

So, of course, just saying that isn't enough. We need grandmas, we need a test! I think that this is a great idea. I did this with someone who has never used Windows back around 1998 or 1999 and did a test of Windows 98 vs. KDE 1.3 and they said that KDE was way easier to use - because they didn't have any former Windows experience. If we can find grandma, grandpas, or really anyone that has no computer experience we should do some tests and make a video to see how they react to three systems.... Linux Mint, ChomeOS and Windows 10 to see what they find to be easier when they don't have preconceived notions coming along with them.

The only issue one of them had was some obscure printer. It auto picked the driver but it printed the colors incorrectly or the pages were out of whack. I forget what I did but it didn't take too long to fix.

The only issue one of them had was some obscure printer. It auto picked the driver but it printed the colors incorrectly or the pages were out of whack. I forget what I did but it didn't take too long to fix.

That's not bad. We get so many printer and wifi issues with Windows that Linux normally doesn't suffer from that it must happen the other way from time to time too. I had to print from Linux for the first time in forever the other day and it was the smoothest thing ever. My wife who uses Windows most of the time was pretty shocked, she'd never seen a printer work so easily before - ever.

The only issue one of them had was some obscure printer. It auto picked the driver but it printed the colors incorrectly or the pages were out of whack. I forget what I did but it didn't take too long to fix.

That's not bad. We get so many printer and wifi issues with Windows that Linux normally doesn't suffer from that it must happen the other way from time to time too. I had to print from Linux for the first time in forever the other day and it was the smoothest thing ever. My wife who uses Windows most of the time was pretty shocked, she'd never seen a printer work so easily before - ever.

Ya that was the only time I can remember that one didn't just work when it was plugged in directly. Even my old like 13 year old Brother laser printer just works when it's plugged in.

I've never found someone with the experience of someone trying Linux (a reasonable one at least) and finding Windows 8 or later to be better. Does anyone have any experience with that? And if so, any feedback on what factors made it happen?

I've never found someone with the experience of someone trying Linux (a reasonable one at least) and finding Windows 8 or later to be better. Does anyone have any experience with that? And if so, any feedback on what factors made it happen?

Better is often subjective to the applications which the user wants to run. Some things just don't operate within the Linux world. This has always been my biggest issue personally.

I've never found someone with the experience of someone trying Linux (a reasonable one at least) and finding Windows 8 or later to be better. Does anyone have any experience with that? And if so, any feedback on what factors made it happen?

Better is often subjective to the applications which the user wants to run. Some things just don't operate within the Linux world. This has always been my biggest issue personally.

People in the categories that I mentioned, though, will not likely have any applications that they want to run, or at least not preconceived notions of them. Not likely to find a grandma without computer experience looking to get into gaming, for example.

I've never found someone with the experience of someone trying Linux (a reasonable one at least) and finding Windows 8 or later to be better. Does anyone have any experience with that? And if so, any feedback on what factors made it happen?

Better is often subjective to the applications which the user wants to run. Some things just don't operate within the Linux world. This has always been my biggest issue personally.

People in the categories that I mentioned, though, will not likely have any applications that they want to run, or at least not preconceived notions of them. Not likely to find a grandma without computer experience looking to get into gaming, for example.

Now it shouldn't be as much of an issue. Previous to the big SaaS wave, people were hooked on their home software like Quicken and other bad one off software packages.

Sure there was GNUCash but you can't really compare a full double entry accounting suite to Cash based Quicken.

The quicken type products where the first thing that jumped to my mind. More on the home user doing their own taxes. Until a few years ago you had to run the software on Windows or Mac... Now it's all web based, no local software....

As mentioned SaaS is and has changed the field. So many more things can be done purely in the browser.

For the people Scott mentioned, a Chromebook will likely do everything they need. That or an iPad.

The quicken type products where the first thing that jumped to my mind. More on the home user doing their own taxes. Until a few years ago you had to run the software on Windows or Mac... Now it's all web based, no local software....

As mentioned SaaS is and has changed the field. So many more things can be done purely in the browser.

For the people Scott mentioned, a Chromebook will likely do everything they need. That or an iPad.

Yeah, this type of product, that was so crucial twenty years ago, doesn't exist in any practical desktop form today. What a silly thing to run as a fat application that you have to acquire, download, update, maintain, back up, etc.

The quicken type products where the first thing that jumped to my mind. More on the home user doing their own taxes. Until a few years ago you had to run the software on Windows or Mac... Now it's all web based, no local software....

As mentioned SaaS is and has changed the field. So many more things can be done purely in the browser.

For the people Scott mentioned, a Chromebook will likely do everything they need. That or an iPad.

Yeah, this type of product, that was so crucial twenty years ago, doesn't exist in any practical desktop form today. What a silly thing to run as a fat application that you have to acquire, download, update, maintain, back up, etc.

20 years?

It was less than 5 you still had to buy or download the new version, install it, etc....

I only really recall last year getting to do all of it online... But I leave room that it might have been the last few.

The quicken type products where the first thing that jumped to my mind. More on the home user doing their own taxes. Until a few years ago you had to run the software on Windows or Mac... Now it's all web based, no local software....

As mentioned SaaS is and has changed the field. So many more things can be done purely in the browser.

For the people Scott mentioned, a Chromebook will likely do everything they need. That or an iPad.

Yeah, this type of product, that was so crucial twenty years ago, doesn't exist in any practical desktop form today. What a silly thing to run as a fat application that you have to acquire, download, update, maintain, back up, etc.

20 years?

It was less than 5 you still had to buy or download the new version, install it, etc....

I only really recall last year getting to do all of it online... But I leave room that it might have been the last few.

I didn't say when it switched, only that 20 years ago it was super critical. We started seeing key enterprise apps move to web based instead of desktop around 1999 - 2001. Same time that MS published their guides to DNA and such. That was 2000 and was the death knell for VB6. By that point, even MS had admitted the desktop was dead for business apps going forward.